It's a choice, Make yours!Sharon Vanalstyne

1.3 Million high school students dropped out this year These dropouts are mostly black and Hispanic, and overwhelmingly poor. Since failing to finish school contributes mightily to poverty and inequality in America, increasing high school graduation rates should be an urgent national priority.

Thomas Hale

2010 Thomas dropped out when he was in 10th grade at the age of 21, Thomas dropped out because he continued to get into fights, he was picked on and was tired of being the oldest in his class. He was held back a few years because of having childhood leukemia . Thomas says that having cancer was not the hard part, it was dealing with constant teasing from kids who were friend with him just months before. Thomas doesn't want to go back to high school but taught about the GED. He attempted getting the GED 2 times but it didn't work out because he felt like he didn't have the time. Thomas feels like not having it held him back as a person. He feels as if he isn't good enough because he just quit. He's tried to get jobs that required a diploma but got turned down because of it. It was disappointing. He is now working as a supervisor at home depot, Thomas is making his way up management. He looked into different management positions and found out a high school diploma is not required. He has a small son and he says " I don't want hunter to grow up and drop out because he thinks it's ok because he's daddy did, I will do everything I can to make him understand that graduating will help him strid and become whatever he'd want to be.

Adam rockefeller

2014 adam dropped out in the 11th grade at the age of 16

Adam made the decision to drop out of high school after him and his girlfriend got pregnant with his daughter belleh, he started to work a lot more to support his young family and found himself working more than school. He soon became a manager at taco bell. Adam says he doesn't think he will be going back to high school but he does say that he wants to go back and get his GED after he gets his living situation under control i asked if he regretted dropping out and he states that he doesn't regret it one bit, he says he is doing a lot better then a lot of people who do have a diploma. Adam doesn't feel held back at all without it, he says “ no i have my own car that i have payments on, i'm about to have my own apartment and i have two kids that i take care of everyday. And i wouldn't change a thing”

Joseph layboy

1994 he dropped out he was in 11th grade at the age of 17

Joseph dropped out of high school because he was severely bullied because of what he wore. he tried to change schools and change friends but nothing changed, joseph didn't go back to high school but did go and get his GED two years later in 1996. He wishes that he didn't drop out because he had dreams of going into the military. He doesn't feel as if he was held back by only having a GED. Joseph says that yes he wishes he finished but he is happy with how him life turned out without his diploma.

When a kids drops out or thinks about it, it's something that is taken lightly but has a huge impact on themselves in the future. Some kids who drop out don't even know they dropped out. As silly as that sounds it's true, some think it will be temporary and they will return in a month or so. Some kids would be considered as a dropout but will show up for a day, do what they have to do and leave. But this sometimes a "i just don't want to" or "i really can't". In the United States hundreds of kids dropout a week because they are bored and don't think they need school that they are better off, then there is the group of kids who had to drop out for different reasons like family problems and teen pregnancy.

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reasons -

Drug and alcohol abuse

Pregnancy

Loss of interest

Economic hardship

Special disorders

Family problems and violence

Drug and alcohol abuse -

Kids who are between the ages of 16-18 have a high rate of using cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and other illegal drugs. The substance abuse and mental health service administration shows that teens now have doubled the abuse rate over a ten year study, 56.8% versus 22.4%. Overall rate of 31.4% of drop outs use illegal drugs compared to passed teens who enrolled in earlier years 27.3% of drop outs use marijuana compared to 15.3. 41.6% use alcohol compared to 35.3 dropouts’ rate of binge drinking was also higher, 32.3 versus 23.8.

Pregnancy-

30% of girls who get pregnant in high school dropout. Only 51% of teenage girls who become pregnant get their high school diploma according to the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy. just 38 percent of teen girls who have a child before they turn 18 have a high school diploma. For these teens the task of balancing their education and a baby is almost impossible. teen birth rates in the United States plummeted by 37 percent between 1991 and 2009 but there was actually a rise of teen pregnancies between 2005 and 2007. when the rate rose five percent. In any case, the teen pregnancy epidemic is far from over. In 2009, about 410,000 teen girls aged 15 to 19 gave birth with the majority being Hispanic or African-American. America’s teen pregnancy rate is up to nine times higher than that of most developed nations.

Loss of interest-

students each day are dropping out of high school simply because they have no motivation to work, their attendance is not the greatest and the classes they take are uninteresting and often considered pointless to learn. Some teens may quit studies in order to pursue their passion for art and acting. The lure of fame and money become stronger as popular media greatly influences teenagers. A study conducted on over 5000 students in high school dropout showed revealed 75% dropped out because of lack of support and encouragement to continue

Economic hardships-

In a lot of countries teens are forced to dropout of school. Even bright kids who strid and do well will still drop out because of reasons of poverty to take a job to help out their family. Almost 30 percent of students who drop out of school between the ages of 16 and 18 are working in a variety of jobs according to a new study by the Urban Institute.

Family problems and violence-

in 2002-5 a study showed that one reason that kids drop out of school is because no stability in a home. Where the parents aren't involved or violent to the child verbal or physical. Most kids don't drop out for this reason because most of the time a bad family life for a kid would lead to drug use or getting pregnant, one of the main drop out reasons. But this a select group of kids who drop out of this reason who have good grade who go to school everyday and don't do drug or are not pregnant. These kids will try until they can't do it anymore and will do anything to get out of that situation.

Using data from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, researchers at the Urban Institute found that nearly a third of the 563,000 teenage dropouts left school to work. These 16- to 18-year-olds were disproportionately male and Hispanic, and ended their education either at the beginning of high school or nearing the end. Roughly 75 percent of them are native-born Americans, the new study said.

New york state has one of the worst graduation rates in the country. The graduation rate was 75 percent in 2009 that was 1 in 4 students failing to get a diploma. Researchers found that's below the goal of 90 percent by at least 2020. Researchers found that the number of dropouts that fail to graduate are more than 60 percent of students on time that had dropped by more than 450 between 2002 and 2010, but 1,550 remain.

For kids who dropped out it is really something that doesn't seem real or does not seem as if it could happen to you or someone you know. Take it from me, I was considered a dropout too. It started in september I was going thru a rough time with myself struggling with self worth and feeling alone. And on top of it a family life that never had any good days. I had a boyfriend who I thought would be there or me because he knew what was going on but he made some choices and we split up. Everything happened so fast it didn't seem real, I was in the hospital the night before because i was sick, my boyfriend wanted space from me. It was my first day of a new job i got. I got home to everyone at eachothers throats but this time it seemed different, more intense that something was about to go down but no one knew yet. it was a monday night, I thought it would just go away I was already in a terrible mood because of how the day unfolded and about 9 at night my boyfriend wanted to come and apologize for what happen, well he came at the wrong time and when I say it hit the fan it did, like a volcano erupting with no end in sight. Well that was the last night I lived in that house, I packed all I could I said goodbye to my cat and left, I was going to stay with my boyfriend at the time but after that night I was gone and so was he. At the time it was hard it felt like my whole world was falling apart, luckily I have an amazing sister and brother in-law that seen what was going down and drove an hour away to get me and whatever I could carry. I tried to enroll in Batavia High School but I was denied for the McKinley Act because my mother didn't want me going to school in a city she did not reside in. Which after hearing that your parents have to give the ok for an act that is supposed to help homeless or runaway kids get education is mind blowing. i tried to keep up with my online classes but started to fall behind and soon not do any work at all. this point in time i think i gave up i felt like at this point my world really didn't crash and burn. By early December I thought I had a plan, I would just get my GED when I turn 18 so I didn't need parent consent. I had plans to go into the army and after I talked to a recruiter and found out that a GED gives you less options and will take 2 years for me to join an it destroyed me. The one thing I wanted to do is join the army and that was slowly slipping out of my hands, that was the only light at the end of my dark tunnel. Feeling sad but not letting it stop me, I continued on with what I did everyday when my sister calls me out of the blue one day and says that we figured out a way I can graduate this june and not have to wait , I was shocked and I couldn't help but cry I felt like that was the one thing nothing could change and it did and to say how grateful I was and still am is words can't describe. now, I couldn't be happier to where I am and how many obstacles i've overcome at this age and in the last year alone. Now I can and will be joining the army in just months !